Iphone-Class Action Lawsuite

The AP reports that a California federal judge has given the go-ahead to a monopoly class action lawsuit, against both Apple and AT&T, over several aspects of the iPhone. The suit claims that Apple, in making AT&T its exclusive partner, drove up prices and stifled competition in the smartphone market. The suit seeks to, “keep Apple from selling locked iPhones in the U.S. and from determining what iPhone programs people can install.” Naturally, the suit also seeks “damages to cover legal fees and other costs.” Apple has yet to release in an official statement in regards to the suit, but did say that it had not hurt competition. Unlocked iPhones and the ability to install applications from third party sources (Cydia!) sound pretty good to us.

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Nifty, the lawyers will make millions but we, as users, may get access to allot more apps and service providers...Would rather be the lawyers

The issue at hand is that gen one owners of the iPhone where not aware that AT&T/Apple had a 5 or 6 year exclusive agreement. So gen one owners could have figured on purchasing the iPhone on AT&T finishing out their contract and jumping to Verizon. Which as it turns out it was not possible because of the exclusive.

The issue at hand is that gen one owners of the iPhone where not aware that AT&T/Apple had a 5 or 6 year exclusive agreement. So gen one owners could have figured on purchasing the iPhone on AT&T finishing out their contract and jumping to Verizon. Which as it turns out it was not possible because of the exclusive.

It also looks like they are pressing Apple on not being allowed to side load applications. But I belive this is being handled in another court. If I remember correctly they are looking for a decision from the courts on jail breaking. Apples postion is that jail breaking violates the DMCA.

i am by no means even remotely a fan of apple... but seriously, this suit is fucking retarded....

apple has locked down all of their shit since they started selling shit back in the damn 70s... everyone knows this... dont like it BUY SOMETHING ELSE

they have also been determining what software they would allow people to install on their devices for over 20 years... nothing new here either... dont like it BUY SOMETHING ELSE

making AT&T their exclusive partner did not drive up prices or stifle competition for smartphones... a simple search of cnet for "smartphones" brings up 631 results... 26 of which are Apple phones... for comparison RIM has 115, HTC has 98, and Nokia has 89... Samsung (66), Motorola (53), Palm (39) and LG (28) also all have more smartphones than Apple... as for providers... Unlocked phones lead the way with 108, followed by AT&T with 101, followed up with T-Mobile (52), Verizon (51), Sprint (49), other small time players(18 total)... again, there are plenty of other options out there... dont like it BUY SOMETHING ELSE

the only thing Apple has a monopoly on is brain dead little fucks thinking that their shit is a status symbol...

when the iPhone first came out it had the best internet browser available on a mobile device... since then plenty of others have stepped up their game and included internet browsers that are as good or better...

and as of the last check, between Feb and May 2010 Apple lost 1 full point in market share (25.4 - 24.4%)

seeing that a lot of really good devices have dropped in the past month or so i am somewhat excited to see how this pans out when the next market share reviews come out in August

but seriously.... suing because you are pissed off that you bought a device you are not happy with is flat out retarded
anyone involved with this suit as well as the judge that accepted it should all be hit in the head with a fucking hammer

this boils down to how fucked up cell phones are here in the u.s. if verizon and sprint switched to gsm, there wouldn't be the slightest fucking problem. but the reality is, you can't use a sim card at verizon. have you noticed t-mobile isn't bitching? exactly. you can get the phones to work on that network.

in japan, you can go just buy a phone, pop in your sim card and call it a day. here you have to do some 2 year contract bullshit. if you lose your phone, you're fucked. fucking american cell phones.

this boils down to how fucked up cell phones are here in the u.s. if verizon and sprint switched to gsm, there wouldn't be the slightest fucking problem. but the reality is, you can't use a sim card at verizon. have you noticed t-mobile isn't bitching? exactly. you can get the phones to work on that network.

in japan, you can go just buy a phone, pop in your sim card and call it a day. here you have to do some 2 year contract bullshit. if you lose your phone, you're fucked. fucking american cell phones.